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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

The Prohibition Era

all pictures taken from google images.

Prohibition was the time when the selling, manufacturing, and drinking of alcohol stopped during 1920-1933 The Prohibition Era was one the most infamous times in American history. Since everyone was in need to drink bootleggers and speakeasies were created. Bootleggers are people who smuggled alcohol in either their clothes, pitchers, or in any other way possible. Speakeasies were secret clubs that served alcohol. Speakeasies were very easy to find, but very hard to get into. People needed either a code, password, or handshake to get in. Before Prohibition, there were 16,000 saloons in New York. When Prohibition started, speakeasies we increased between 30,000 to 100,000.Prohibition was also called the 18th Amendment. The first part of the amendment stated: “After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.” Although the amendment took away the selling and manufacturing of alcohol, it was allowed for personal use. As long as the alcohol stayed inside peoples’ homes and wasn’t traded, it was perfectly legal. In relation to the Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby was a bootlegger and it helped him gain money. In the end, many considered Prohibition a failed attempt to stop people from drinking and changed the views of alcoholic beverages. It displayed that you can’t always change people’s ways even if you wanted to.